Court Rules In Apple’s Favor Over Government

The legal tussle between Apple and the US Government has certainly captured the imagination of many over the past week, but it looks like the tech company has the upper hand at the moment when a federal judge in New York ruled in favor of Apple. The learned judge cited that an obscure colonial-era law did not pave the way for him to authorize Apple to obtain data from an iPhone simply at the whim and fancy of the government.

Of course, one will also have to bear in mind that this particular ruling is not binding in any other court, so you can be sure that the government would be approaching the matter from a different angle to boot. After all, there is a separate case in California that is going on as to whether Apple should assist in the unlocking of a dead terrorist’s iPhone, as both of these cases involve different versions of iOS, which is the iPhone’s operating system – not to mention the requests for technical help are also very different.

Regardless, both cases rely on a 1789 law which is better known as the All Writs Act, where it seem to be applicable to situations when the government is unable to obtain encrypted data stored on suspects’ devices. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein in Brooklyn, over at the Eastern District of New York, is now the first federal judge to rule that the act does not permit a court to order companies to retrieve encrypted data – be it that data resides on a person’s phone or tablet.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: iPhone, Legal